Born Free and Equal?

A Philosophical Inquiry into the Nature of Discrimination

Kasper Lippert-Rasmussen

Argues that there are different concepts of discrimination and that different purposes pertaining to different contexts determine which one is the most useful.

Gives special attention to a concept of discrimination that ties discrimination to differential treatment of people on the basis of their membership in socially salient groups.

Takes issue with some of the standard devices used to counteract discrimination, e.g. proportional representation of different groups, and submits that combating discrimination requires more than state actions.

Argues that states may sometimes permissibly discriminate.

Born Free and Equal?

A Philosophical Inquiry into the Nature of Discrimination

Kasper Lippert-Rasmussen

Description

What is discrimination? There are certain instances of differential treatment that almost anyone would describe as discriminatory; yet upon deeper examination, this near-unanimity gives way to disagreement and difference. For instance, is it discrimination when hospitals hire non-smokers only? Not only do people differ on which cases of differential treatment they see as discriminatory, they also disagree about when discrimination is morally wrong; what makes it morally wrong; and, indeed, about whether all forms of discrimination are morally wrong! Finally, many disagree over what should be done about wrongful discrimination-especially about what the state could permissibly do to eliminate wrongful discrimination, e.g. in people's love lives.

This book addresses these issues. It argues that there are different concepts of discrimination and that different purposes pertaining to different contexts determine which one is the most useful. It gives special attention to a concept of discrimination that ties discrimination to differential treatment of people on the basis of their membership in socially salient groups. Second, it argues that when discrimination is wrong, it is so first and foremost because of its harmful effects. Third, it takes issue with some of the standard devices used to counteract discrimination and submits that combating discrimination requires more than state actions. Finally, it argues that states may sometimes permissibly discriminate.

Chapter 4: Mental state based accounts1. Introduction2. Some common accounts3. Mental states and permissibility4. Different mental state accounts5. Alexander on disrespect and discrimination: The falsehood account6. Alexander on disrespect and discrimination: The comparative falsehood account7. Alexander on disrespect and discrimination: The irrational, comparative falsehood account8. Conclusion

Chapter 5: Objective meaning accounts1. Introduction2. Hellman's account: Demeaning others3. Some challenges to Hellman's account4. Scanlon on racial discrimination and the meaning of actions 5. An important ambiguity6. Some worries about Scanlon's account7. The moral distinctiveness of discrimination based on judgments of inferiority8. Conclusion

Chapter 6: Harm-based accounts1. Introduction2. The essentials of the harm-based account 3. The baseline issue 4. The metric of harm5. Some challenges to the harm-based account6. A desert-prioritarian account7. Some objections8. A test case: Moral wrongness of indirect discrimination9. ConclusionAppendix: Moreau on deliberative freedom and discrimination

Chapter 10: Discrimination in the private sphere1. Introduction2. A legal duty to engage in wrongful private discrimination3. A legal right to engage in wrongful private discrimination4. A legal duty not to engage in wrongful private discrimination5. A legal duty or permission to engage in private discrimination that is not wrongful6. A legal duty not to engage in private discrimination that is not wrongful7. Conclusion

Chapter 11: Racial profiling1. Introduction2. A right to be treated as an individual3. Unequal treatment4. Unfairness5. The making of statistical facts and the justifiability of statistical discrimination6. Putting the argument to the interpersonal test7. Non-comprehensively justified?8. Challenges9. Conclusion

BibliographyIndex

Born Free and Equal?

A Philosophical Inquiry into the Nature of Discrimination

Kasper Lippert-Rasmussen

Author Information

Kasper Lippert-Rasmussen (D.Phil., Oxford) is professor of political theory at the University of Aarhus, Denmark. He works primarily in political and moral philosophy and has published in journals such as Journal of Political Philosophy, Ethics, Philosophy and Public Affairs, Philosophical Studies, Economics and Philosophy, and The Journal of Ethics. He is an associate editor of Ethics and chair of Society for Applied Philosophy.

Born Free and Equal?

A Philosophical Inquiry into the Nature of Discrimination

Kasper Lippert-Rasmussen

Reviews and Awards

"In a relatively new field of scholarship focused on thinking philosophically about discrimination, Lippert-Rasmussen's contribution stands out for its comprehensiveness, its detail and its high quality." --Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews

"[Lippert-Rasmussen] is a master of advancing discussion on a topic by showing that where the rest of us saw only two or three possible positions, there are many positions, often smeared together in a confused way in prior writings on the topic. The different views need to be carefully distinguished, and we then need to look carefully at what can be said for and against each in turn. When we do this, our view of the issues significantly shifts. This method and its fruits are evident throughout the book... [The] author's analytical skill and creative imagination in following through this method make the book a pleasure to read."--Richard J. Arneson, Professor of Philosophy, University of California, San Diego